Gullwings,
I was not trying to "big up" the RAF with my last post. Despite being a crab, a quick check through my posts should convince you that I am a proponent of maritime based aviation (in all forms). As I said, the Junglies worked their socks off (as they always do) but it is utter tripe to claim that Al Faw could not have been done without carriers. From a planning point of view it would have been much, much simpler to run the whole show from the northern Kuwaiti desert. My point is that with a plethora of HNS, carriers were not essential. Who is to say that the next time we won't need them, badly? Just don't try and dress OIF up as a "carrier essential" campaign -it wasn't. NGS was important to start with, but got increasingly unnecessary and inconvenient as all viable targets were removed - don't forget we had a pet AC-130 plus A10s and F18s over the top for the important initial phases. My impression was that a lot of the shells that the DD/FFs fired were in order to make the post-war statistics more compelling in support of NGS, rather than the efficient prosecution of targets.
Engines,
Erudite as ever my friend. As you well know, the thought of a UK MEU based around CVF to be a favourite of mine. We just need to stop the zoomies thinking only of Carrier Strike and to start thinking of "Carrier Flexibility".
Oh, and not all crabs think like our glorious "the answer is typhoon, now what's the question" leader and desire anschluss with the AAC/FAA. Most of us are RW pilots and we have a good idea what would happen if he got away with it....
PS-Seasons greetings Engines. Best wishes for the new year to you, Mrs E and the APUs.....